RALEIGH — Second only to the sickening feeling of watching defenseman Zdeno Chara crumple to the ice in the second period of Game 5 had to be the stomach-turning emotion the Boston Bruins endured watching center MarcSavard go down after banging knees with Chad LaRose in the third period of tonight’s Game 6 at RBC Center.

Savard made his way to the bench with trainer Donnie Del Negro and played one more shift before hitting the showers. But head coach Claude Julien was quick to point out after his team’s victory, which forced a Game 7 in this Eastern Conference semifinal series, that it was his decision — not the medical staff’s — to force Savard to call it a night.

“I’m the one that sent him off. He just came up to me and I just said … at that time of the game, I just sent him off. He’ll be fine for next game,” said Julien after the 4-2 win.

Savard finished the night with one goal and a plus-1 rating in 13:24 of ice time.

Heading into this weekend’s final two games of the regular season, there are four Boston Bruins with a chance to appear in all 82 contests for the club this season.

So will they get the chance?

“I’m under the ‘cone of silence,'” head coach and obvious “Get Smart” fan Claude Julien responded today when asked about the chance we’ll see Zdeno Chara, Marc Savard, Mark Stuart and David Krejci close out the season without a missing a date.

But on a serious note, Julien said he’s going to take it game by game, and the addition of Vladimir Sobotka and Mikko Lehtonen from Providence (AHL) and the potential return from injury of Dennis Wideman and P.J. Axelsson certainly gives the Bruins’ coach a number of options. (more…)

Star center Marc Savard let out a lot of emotion after he scored what proved to be the game-winning goal Thursday night against Ottawa.

A double-fist pump and a long glide toward the boards with one knee bent punctuated the Boston Bruins veteran’s dramatic score in the 2-1 win at TD Banknorth Garden. A little more pizazz in Savard’s celebration and he could wind up offending well-known fan Don Cherry.

“I was excited. At a time like that when it’s 1-1 and you get a goal, it’s exciting. But I try to keep them calm otherwise,” Savard said today after the Bruins practiced at Ristuccia Arena.

So the host of “Coach’s Corner” should continue to love Savard, who assured TheBruinsBlog.net that there won’t be any Alexander Ovechkin-like choreography going on any time soon. Here’s a clip that proves the Cherry-Savard love fest from last year:

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Center Marc Savard is one of the top playmakers in the NHL, and he sits sixth in the league with his 54 assists.

But after Tuesday’s practice, head coach Claude Julien had some mixed comments about his veteran point machine.

“He’s a guy that turns the puck over with some forced plays at times. His competitive level is always there. He competes hard. The one thing he can certainly help this team with right now is (cutting down) those kind of turnovers that end up hurting us,” Julien told the assembled media.

Today after the Bruins practiced for a second straight day at Ristuccia Arena, Savard had not read his coach’s comments, which also included an example of the errant Savard pass that turned into Pittsburgh’s empty-netter Sunday. But based on how the comments were relayed to him, Savard had this to say:

“I can probably protect the puck more and stuff. I haven’t read it so I’d like to read it. But there’s times the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a couple go into our net — one against Philly and then the empty-netter. I can protect the puck a bit more and make some better plays,” he said.

Savard is a high-risk, high-reward sort of player. And that’s how he’s surged to the top of the Bruins’ scoring chart again this season with 76 points. So it’s a delicate balance he strikes in terms of making sure he’s playing at his best but at the same not costing his team.

“I’m always going to be a guy trying to make plays,” said Savard, who’s still an impressive plus-25 on the year. “I’ve got to pick and choose and make some better ones.”

WILMINGTON, Mass. — Kudos to the Bangin Panger blog for its astute observation from Sunday’s Boston Bruins-Pittsburgh Penguins game — noticing that some time after the first period Penguins superstar Sidney Crosby removed his visor from his helmet.

Crosby’s winger Chris Kunitz confirmed on radio 105.9 The X Monday that Crosby had altered his equipment in response to a challenge from a Bruins player.

While Kunitz did not name the player, and the mainstream Pittsburgh media hasn’t touched this story yet, the Bruins’ culprit is suspected to be center Marc Savard. Today after the Bruins practiced at Ristuccia Arena, Savard didn’t deny that he was chirping hard with Crosby. But beyond that, he offered no comment.

There’s no way to avoid it now. Boston Bruins center Marc Savard is a legit Hart Trophy candidate, and there’s nothing anyone in the NHL establishment can do about it.

Some still doubt Savard’s all-around ability as much as they doubt Tim Thomas’ puck-stopping prowess, but here in Boston we know Savard is the straw that stirs the Bruins’ drink. In four games this week, he posted 4-1-5 totals and an even plus/minus rating to earn my Bruin of the Week award.

Although he was a minus-2 against Washington in a game that both his usual linemates — Milan Lucic and Phil Kessel — finally formed a trio with him for the first time in a while due to injury and illness, Savard still came up with the game-tying power-play goal. His heroics continued with the game-tying goal in the overtime loss to New Jersey and then the game-winning goal (the only goal) against the New York Rangers.

Savard now sits in a fourth-place tie in the NHL scoring race with 61 points, in fifth place in assists with 41 and is an amazing plus-28.

The only other candidate this week was defenseman Dennis Wideman, who posted 2-2-4 totals and a plus-4 rating — including the game-tying goal in Montreal and assists on the game-winning goals against Washington and the Rangers.

BOSTON — Although he still would have liked to have stopped it, New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist admitted after today’s Boston Bruins 1-0 win that Marc Savard’s goal with 22.2 seconds left in the second period was legal.

“I saw him come in front of me. It was such a tough goal. You have to reach for the puck and it deflected straight down. It is hard to be in two places at the same time,” the Rangers’ All-Star netminder said in the visiting dressing room at TD Banknorth Garden. “I thought that it was a high stick, but then I saw the replay and it didn’t look that high. It was a pretty good tip. It is just tough when you let one in that late.”

The play unfolded with Milan Lucic barrelling toward Nigel Dawes along the half-wall and forcing a turnover. Dennis Wideman ripped a shot from the point and Savard got a stick on it from the slot. Savard said he was pretty sure the puck was low enough for him to interfere with it and not get a whistle.

“Obviously, you want to get a tip on it. And I knew that it wasn’t that high at the time and I got a good tip on it,” he explained. “I knew it was late in the period too. It was a great shot by Dennis. Looch made the whole play, though, forcing the guy on the wall. And obviously when a big guy comes at you, it’s tough to make a good play and he kind of let it go by and Dennis got a good shot.”

That’s what Boston playmaker Marc Savard called his hysterical celebration after his game-tying goal at 14:12 of the second period tonight at TD Banknorth Garden.

The Boston Bruins went on to win the game, 3-2, in overtime, on a David Krejci goal. But that wouldn’t have been possible without a diving play to keep the puck alive by Patrice Bergeron and then a power-play goal in front from Savard, who promptly skated full speed to the right-wing half-wall and thrust himself into the glass.

“I was excited,” said Savard, who was coming off his second straight All-Star weekend appearance. “I’ll tell you, it was a tough game because it was a busy weekend – a lot of stuff going on. I really had to dig down deep. It wasn’t one of my best efforts.”

“I think that’s why I was excited so much,” the center continued when asked about Bergeron’s dramatic dive and pass to the front. “He makes a great play to keep it alive, it gets over to me and I caught (Jose) Theodore cheating.”

For the Bruins to make their banner regular season continue and then mean something in the annals of the franchise with a big-time postseason, Savard’s going to have to pull more Ovechkins, and the Bruins are going to have to solve more Ovechkins, Semins, Kovalevs, Gomezes and Eliases. That’s why taking down the Caps was so important. (more…)

MONTREAL — Montreal winger Alexei Kovalev was the game MVP and Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas was the shootout defensive star of the 2009 NHL All-Star Game tonight at Bell Centre, but Boston’s other two representatives had their hand in the 12-11 victory as well.

Center Marc Savard dished out three assists during his 15:14 of ice time. He fired just one shot on net and was a minus-1, but he did all he could to make sure his high-powered pair of wingers — Washington megastar Alexander Ovechkin and Ottawa sniper Dany Heatly — had plenty of chances to flaunt their stuff.

“It was Claude. Claude put it together. Maybe he’s rewarding me a bit here. So that was nice of him,” said Savard. (more…)

MONTREAL — Zdeno Chara won the hardest shot competition and Blake Wheeler was the star of the YoungStars game, but they weren’t the only Boston Bruins competitors who got all they could out of the experience of the Honda/NHL SuperSkills tonight at Bell Centre.

Center Marc Savard, who went 3-for-8 in the first round and didn’t reach the second round of the McDonald’s NHL Shooting Accuracy competition, enjoyed a lengthy ride to the final two of the Gatorade Elimination Shootout. Savard, who finished 4-for-7, lost to Phoenix’s Shane Doan despite a pretty goal he snuck past Bruins teammate Tim Thomas.

“He had me fooled. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” said Thomas.

“He’s sticking to that story, yeah,” added Savard. “He was kind of giving it to me and I was able to sneak it by.” (more…)

One of those challenges came through the luck of the draw and one he brought on himself by choice.

Prior to the Eastern Conference All-Stars’ media availability, Thomas and fellow All-Star goaltenders J.S. Giguere (Anaheim), Niklas Backstrom (Minnesota) and Henrik Lundqvist (NY Rangers) randomly picked up pucks with the names of All-Star shooters on the underside to set up the match-ups for the shootout. In the midst of the draw, Thomas selected Washington super-sniper Alexander Ovechkin and threw his head back with an ‘oh my’ type of reaction. (more…)

Boston Bruins defenseman Zdeno Chara hasn’t won a Stanley Cup yet. But he does have one title to defend — he’s won the NHL Hardest Shot competition two years running.

Saturday in Montreal, Chara will go for a third straight championship, the NHL announced today. Chara will battle Edmonton’s Sheldon Souray, Montreal’s Mike Komisarek, Tampa Bay’s Vinny Lecavalier, Nashville’s Shea Weber and the New York Islanders’ Mark Streit in the 2009 Cisco NHL Hardest Shot competition as part of the Honda/NHL SuperSkills at the Bell Centre the night before the 2009 NHL All-Star Game.

The Bruins will also be represented in the McDonald’s NHL Accuracy Shooting competition by center Marc Savard, who was one of competitors — including defending champion Tomas Kaberle of Toronto — named by the league today.

When he started the season with five goals in the Boston Bruins’ first three games, center Marc Savard said he was going to try to shoot more and expand his resume beyond his famous playmaking production.

After scoring one of the Bruins’ two goals in their 2-1 win over the New York Islanders at Nassau Coliseum last night, Savard now has four goals in his last eight games. Of course, in the games between his hot start to the season and his recent uptick in lamp-lighting, he scored just six goals. So does that make him a streak scorer? Maybe, but more than anything it makes him a player who’s aware of what his team needs and when to provide it.

“I wanted to shoot the puck more this year. And obviously with Kess going down and Looch out, I’ve got to put more pucks to the net,” said Savard, who was skating a bulk of the first half of the season with Phil Kessel and Milan Lucic and has now had Chuck Kobasew on his wing for more than a week. “Obviously, Chucky’s going to drive to the net. He scores most of his goal from blue paint, so I’m trying to put the puck there and he’s getting there. We’re going to get some. We’re close.”

Savard’s career-high for goals is 28, so he’s actually within reach of that mark. Once the Bruins get Kessel and Lucic back, Savard might again start to take a backseat. But it wont’ be because he’s been discouraged from shooting.

“There’s times where he has good players with him, but you can’t keep passing up on shots even when you have good players with you,” Bruins head coach Claude Julien said. “We’ve encouraged him to shoot more and whether it’s the circumstances now that are helping him to do that more, he’s doing it. And I guess that’s what matters.”

BOSTON — Boston Bruins center Marc Savard had to wait until he was needed as an injury replacement last winter to earn the first All-Star Game selection of his career.

Today he found out that he won’t have to sweat it out that long as he was named as a reserve for the Eastern Conference team that’ll take the ice at the Bell Centre in Montreal Jan. 25.

“Obviously it’s a special time in Montreal – the 100-year anniversary – it’s going to be fun. And obviously, I’m from up the road in Ottawa so I should have a lot of family and friends on hand,” said Savard just three hours before taking the ice at TD Banknorth Garden for a showdown with Ottawa. (more…)